The Hunger Games

[gwaevalarin]

I know, you probably expected a Supernatural review. That will come. But it might take me a few days. I need to deal with the episode first.

So, let's talk about The Hunger Games instead, because I went to see the movie yesterday.

It's always difficult to watch a movie to a book that you know and love. There will always be details missing, scenes that are different. When I saw the trailer for The Hunger Games I was optimistic that this movie would be everything that is important about the books. It didn't disappoint.

Sure, I had my moments of 'but that was different in the book' in this one too - the biggest one probably being the origin of the Mockingjay pin. I think the solution in the movie works quite well, though - but the atmosphere was spot on, and everything that was important was there. I was actually almost surprised how close they stayed to the original story.

The two scenes that stood out to me the most where:
1) The reaping. It was haunting. This mixture of fear, and anger, and utter helplessness. And having no score just added to that.
2) Rue. Her death was the one scene that made me cry. It wasn't even that bad when she died. But the moment Katniss started collecting flowers and arranged them around her body, and then the sign, and then the scene set in District 11. That was so powerful.

There were only two things that I expected more from, but nothing that I can't look past:
1) Haymitch. He was too sober and too... obviously helpful for my taste. I also hope that the second movie will give us a lot more on how haunted and broken he is.
2) The Mutts. It was one of the most difficult scenes to read in the books for obvious reasons. In the movies they were not much more than rabid dogs.

Overall, I am very happy with what they did with this, and I'm looking forward to seeing the other movies. And the original version of this one.

Comments

[raths-kitten.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book, but I got the impression that Haymitch still felt super guilty about surviving the games when it was his turn. And that he felt a little helpless and trapped in the whole government situation.

A friend who did read the books just told me about the dogs, because she hasn't seen the movie yet and said when she read about it, she thought this would be such a hard scene to film. In the movie, the dogs didn't really make sense, like, where did they come from? At first I thought they were holograms, but obviously not, but if they represent the fallen, that's even tougher. How is it in the book, do they have a conscience?

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it comes across that Haymitch is struggling. In the books he's hardly conscious half of the time. That's how much he drowns everything in alcohol because that's the only way for him to even get through the day. And by the time the games begin, Katniss is convinced that he will be no help to them at all. It's only the first gifts from outside that make her realise that he actually cares.

How is it in the book, do they have a conscience?
The book is from Katniss's perspective so you only learn what she knows. And she simply doesn't know. She only sees that the Mutts have the other tributes' eyes. She does bring it up, though, that they may have part of their minds as well. And that they may be programmed to hate her simply because she survived and they didn't.